Rome is Falling Apart

The Empire is Crumbling to Pieces

Rome is Falling Apart

The Empire is Crumbling to Pieces

What Happened to the Mighty Roman Empire?

The Roman Empire never finds a way to properly transfer power from one emperor to the next. After an emperor dies there is usually bitter wars between all the different people who want to become emperor. The wars are between rival generals or between people who have a lot of power in the Roman government. Even if there isn't any fighting there is still no good way of choosing the next leader. It is often up to the Praetorian Guard, the emperor's private troops, to elect a new leader. However, they often choose someone who will treat them well, rather than a person who is actually qualified to be the Emperor.

Another major issue with the empire is its huge size and the weakening Roman army. Since the empire is so massive it is hard to defend because the army has to be spread out throughout the entire empire. There are many Germanic tribes putting pressure on the western borders of the empire, and they are able to penetrate the borders because of the spread out, weakening army. It is also very hard for Roman leaders to communicate with each other, and it sometimes takes weeks for messages to get across the empire from leaders to generals. Finally, many of the soldiers who are recruited into the army are not loyal to the Roman government, which only makes the army weaker and easier to attack.